At most college football programs a head coach that won no less than nine games each and every one of his seven seasons would be given a lifetime contract and a statue in front of a stadium named after him. But at Nebraska that was deemed not good enough for Bo Pelini who was fired by athletic director Shawn Eichorst in what has to go down as a gutty but risky move. Eichorst had better have a top shelf candidate ready to take over or his own job could eventually end up in jeopardy.
Pelini’s Plateau
Yes, Pelini did win at least nine games every season at Lincoln since taking over in 2008. But he never won a conference championship, (although he did lead his team to two Big 12 and one Big Ten Championship Games). This year epitomized the Pelini Plateau in that he beat teams with losing records but lost to the better teams on his schedule.
The Huskers also looked like a team running on empty at the end. Thehy lost at Wisconsin 59-24 in their tenth game while looking helpless in the process and then lost at home to Minnesota 28-24 the following week. They did rally to a stirring 37-34 comeback road win against a mediocre Iowa team but it was not enough to save Pelini.
Need to Beat the Best
Pelini’s Huskers were 7-17 against ranked teams and the home loss to Minnesota this year startled fans and likely the NU administration. Minnesota has nowhere near the fan support, budget, facilities or recruiting base that Nebraska has and yet beat the Big Red in each of the the past two years. As Eichorst said, “We weren’t good enough in the games that mattered.”
A Tradition to Meet
Much like another Big Ten team, Michigan, Nebraska as a long tradition of winning and being a top tier name brand program. Pelini was certainly an upgrade from predecessor Bill Callahan but could not push the program to the levels of its past glory. Being bullied and dominated by Wisconsin in three out of four meetings since joining the Big Ten is a revealing tell of just how far the program has to go to be a true Big Ten title contender. Eichorst summed it up for Husker nation when he said “Nebraska has everything it needs to be successful at the highest level.”
Challenge of the Modern Era
Much like Michigan there is an element of Nebraska that clings too much to past glory and does not take into account the current era of college football. Nowadays everyone is on TV for every game and nearly all programs spend whatever it takes to win. The days of Nebraska and Oklahoma running the old Big Eight Conference with an iron fist are long gone.
Social media wires every program in the country to the nation’s top recruits from coast to coast. When Nebraska fired Callahan in 2007 there were not many top shelf coaches banging on the door for the job. Recruiting is a challenge as intrastate talent is limited. Beyond that the firing of Frank Solich in 2003 after a nine win season has seemed to curse the program to this day. Eichorst just rolled the dice on his career with this decision.
